What will the next 25 years hold for women business owners? We
asked five business leaders for their forecasts.

Hedy Ratner

Co-president of Chicago-based Women's Business
Development Center, the oldest and largest women's business
assistance program helping women develop and expand their
businesses

"[Women-owned businesses] will be well beyond the majority
of businesses in this country. We [women] will be growing larger,
more successful, more diverse businesses-diverse in terms of the
people with whom we work, and in terms of the nature of the
industries we will be in.

"Financial institutions' consciousness will be raised
in terms of the imperative of investment in women-owned businesses.
Government and the private sector will not look at women-owned
businesses as a token involvement. Instead of being considered the
dregs or smallest piece of the pie, [women-owned businesses] will
be considered an integral part of both their market and their
suppliers."

Susan Phillips Bari

President of the Washington, DC-based Women's Business
Enterprise National Council (WBENC), a third-party certifier of
women-owned businesses

"Businesses run by women face the same challenges as all
small and midsized companies: access to capital, market position,
managing growth, hiring and retaining employees. I don't see
those factors changing over the next 25 years, as I've seen
little change in the past 25.

"People live within a comfort zone. The major impediment
women-owned businesses face is 'business as usual.' If no
special effort is made to expand the universe of suppliers to
include women- and minority-owned firms, progress will continue to
limp along."

Nell Merlino

President and CEO of Count Me In, a New York City-based
nonprofit organization that makes microloans to women-owned
businesses

"Access to capital will continue to be a challenge, but
should improve as more women run major companies, cities, countries
and global financial institutions.

"The women-owned businesses will be more profitable, create
more jobs and be great places to work. In 25 years, they will
redefine success for women and men."

Muriel Siebert

President, CEO and chair of Women's Financial Network at
Siebert, a New York City financial institution created for women
and by women, offering mutual funds, stocks, bonds, college savings
plans and retirement accounts

"[Women-owned businesses will be] larger, and [there will
be] more of them. I do not believe that there is much of a
difference between men and women when it comes to the challenges
facing entrepreneurs. The biggest issue all entrepreneurs will have
to face in the next 25 years is the rapid changes in technology.
Entrepreneurs must stay ahead of technology or try to beat
it."

Sheila Wellington

President of Catalyst, a New York City-based nonprofit
research and advisory organization that works to advance women in
business and their professions

"We can expect that [women-owned] businesses will be very
successful in the future because of the flexible work environment
they offer, which Catalyst has learned is a key retention tool. In
our study 'The Next Generation of Leaders: Today's
Professionals, Tomorrow's Leaders,' more than half of men
and women reported that they would like to telecommute or work a
compressed week. This generation of professionals is looking for
flexible work arrangements that allow them to juggle the demands of
their jobs and families. Women entrepreneurs are the leaders who
will push open new doors and create the workplaces of
tomorrow."

Entrepreneur Magazine's 25th Anniversary
Issue

Discover the trends that have
shaped management, technology, marketing, franchising and money for
the past quarter-century--and what trends will shape the next 25
years--in Sterling
Silver.